Hozier calls for free Palestine, decries antisemitism, at Summerfest

In 2013, Hozier broke out with the smash single “Take Me to Church.” A dozen years later, his flock has never been bigger.

And from his pulpit, he’s never been bolder.

In front of about 23,000 people at a sold-out American Family Insurance Amphitheater for Summerfest’s second night in Milwaukee on June 20, Hozier spent four-and-a-half minutes deep into his two-hour set softly but powerfully speaking from the heart.

He talked about the American civil rights movement, the civil rights movement in Ireland — and called on people to “support a ceasefire in the Middle East.”

“Peace and safety and security for everybody in that region means a Palestine that’s free from occupation,” Hozier called out to an eruption of cheers. “It means a Palestine that’s free to move towards self-determination and statehood, something that my country over 100 years ago asked the world to recognize, and I am so so grateful that they did. I’m so so grateful we were given international support so … Ireland could be an independent state.”

“It feels like so much division and so much violence in the world at the moment,” Hozier continued. “But every single day, I get hope and I am optimistic seeing the kind of kindness, the kind of good will, the kind of empathy I witness every single day … in a venue like this with people coming together … “

“The way that we would show up for our brothers or our sisters … we can do that for people in Palestine,” he added. “And we can also reject the kind of divisionism that would turn us against our Jewish neighbors, that drive us towards antisemitism, the old weaponized forms of racism and imperialism that would turn us against our Muslim brothers and sisters also.”

Hozier stays true to his convictions, musical and otherwise

Since the start of his career Hozier has never shied away from politics, in interviews and his music. But he has never been this overt from a Milwaukee stage — a surprise, some may reckon, considering how much larger his audience has become.

But anyone who has followed Hozier knows he’s gotten to where he is, first and foremost, by staying true to his convictions, musical and otherwise. Certainly “Too Sweet,” one of the biggest hits of 2024, brought Hozier to this moment, made it possible for him to perform for an audience in Milwaukee more than five times larger than his last crowd in town.

And it’s clear that Hozier’s worship-pop stylings have become deeply influential, evident across the Billboard Hot 100 and TikTok feeds, blatant in what was very recently the No. 1 song in America, “Ordinary,” by July 4 Summerfest performer Alex Warren.

Summerfest crowd out for more than Hozier’s biggest hit

But it also was clear at Summerfest that Hozier’s crowd wasn’t simply there for the juggernaut hit. Across a 22-song set, some of the most electric reactions were for smitten older material like “Someone New” and “Cherry Wine,” the latter performed solo by Hozier on acoustic guitar from a small stage in the middle of the amphitheater.

Yes, the crowd was more intoxicated by those tunes than “Too Sweet” — even though the young female fans who made up a large portion of the crowd were likely in kindergarten when that early material first arrived.

Hozier’s vocals made for big stages like Summerfest’s biggest

But clearly those songs have stood the test of time, and continue to find new followers, in part because Hozier’s ethereal vocals have leant them an eternal resonance.

The biggest of stages like at Summerfest are something he’s long been ready for, his voice, enhanced by ghostly backing vocals from several members of his 10-piece backing band, recalling angels at the pearly gates for live standouts like the gothic opus “Movement.”

And while Hozier has long had a dynamic band — with several members swiftly but sweetly strutting their stuff with solos on “Almost (Sweet Music)” — he now has a stage show fit for his musical grandeur. It had six moving video screens at one point that moved above and in front of the musicians resembling a downpour, and doubling down on the drama, for a rendition of “Dinner & Diatribes.”

But even at this superstar stage of his career, Hozier can still be humble. He jokingly called for a moment of silence for the belt he should have worn to prevent his pants from sagging on the Summerfest stage. He also maintained the long-admirable tradition of thanking not just his fellow musicians, but nearly every crew member by name on stage, which lasted even longer than his political speech moment.

And there were other political moments, too, including Hozier’s salute to Juneteenth and Pride Month (including a pair of flags draped on his mic stand at the end of a powerhouse performance of “Take Me to Church”).

Those flashy visuals had a sharp point during “Eat Your Young,” juxtaposing growing military spending with the growing number of children displaced by conflict and violence; and the surge in wealth for the for the five richest people in the world against the climbing rates of homelessness in America, Ireland and France.

And during “Nina Cried Power” — with Amanda Brown excelling at the seemingly impossible task of filling in for that song’s collaborator, music great and activist Mavis Staples — those screens flashed the names of songs demanding a better world, from Nina Simone, Woody Guthrie, U2, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Sly and the Family Stone, Kendrick Lamar, and many more.

Clearly, Hozier, more popular than ever, is ready to join their ranks.

Opener Gigi Perez is clearly one to watch

Newcomer Gigi Perez initially seemed pretty unassuming taking the stage as Hozier’s opener. Turned out it was a crafty sneak attack.

The 25-year-old New Jersey native bypassed sweeping showmanship at the start of a 45-minute set, trusting her vulnerable lyrics and open-hearted deep alto to draw people in. A few songs later for “Fable,” a sprinkle of theatrics made it into the mix, her vocals a hair more biting — and, by the climax, echoing, practically floating, above intimate recorded voicemails. A few songs after that, she gently upped the ante again, bringing out her sister Bella to sweetly sing “Sugar Water” with her.

Very steadily and stealthily, without really showing her hand, Perez was bringing the set to a simmer. And at the absolute perfect moment, the performance erupted with poignancy and power, her voice surging with rafter-shaking might for an emotional wallop of a rocker, “Chemistry.”

That set the scene for Perez’s finale, breakout single “Sailor Song,” a same-sex love song far more absorbing live at the end of this set, made all the stronger by some operatic vocal runs that Perez, up until this point, had been holding out on.

“I can be the cat, baby, you can be the mouse,” Perez called out coolly during the song. By that point in the set, there was no doubt of that being the case.

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